Halloween season is upon us and the cool weather couldn’t have got here soon enough! Of course it also means we can look forward to some of Denton’s favorite fall events, like Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival and Coffin Races along with a slew of great GDAC programs and the CHOSM Park After Dark. We’ll have a line-up of other local Halloween events next week, but first let’s have a gander at a few of Denton’s top haunted places that you can easily explore… if you dare.

Denton’s Springtime weather may be kooky and unpredictable, but one thing you can always count on are the offbeat sights and wacky underground events that keep our weekend social calendars full of choices that’d fluster even wise ole Solomon. One of these backyard traditions is the legendary QUEST FOR THE GOLDEN JESUS Chili Cookoff, which ain’t too underground anymore but for years was held at various “undisclosed locations” back in the day. Here’s an unedited look at the history of this Holy Spirited Hootenanny that we shared with We Denton Do It.

Halloween season in Denton means a plethora of spooky events blow into town along with the wet brisk weather, which is totally ideal conditions for sharing ghost stories with friends around a fire! Well gather around, ye Denton faithful, so I can share with you the strange spooky tale of the Hipster Haint known only as “The Dude” who still wanders the offices of Denton’s Grammy-winning musicians and legendary local Nuclear Punk Polka deities, BRAVE COMBO.

Confederate veterans from the Sul Ross Camp pose in front of the Denton TX Courthouse during a 1902 reunion.

If you’d like to get caught up on our Denton history feature “Back in the Day” that we contribute to Denton’s best arts & culture blog WE DENTON DO IT, here’s what we’ve been writing about since the last update:

The Confederate Soldiers Monument on the south side of the Denton Courthouse Square has again rightly come under scrutiny after #BlackLivesMatter controversies in the national news, but what is the deal with how the Confederate Monument got there, anyway? You can then check out the moving story of Denton desegregation via high school football in our ‘When We Were All Broncos’ documentary review, and the moving story of Denton’s Civil Rights Mavens of Integration who eased the transitions for schoolkids. There’s also an essay on important Juneteenth history that has shaped our African-American communities in Texas.

African-American History Month offers an important opportunity to look back at Denton’s own intriguing past for our citizens of color. Today we’re gonna look at the true facts behind the historical fiction White Lilacs (1993), Carolyn Meyer’s novelization of the forced eviction for Denton’s African-American Quakertown district during the 1920s. The haunting history behind Meyer’s story offers us critical reminders why Black History Month is so necessary to counter persistent political revisionism that impairs our public memory.

The name of Sam Bass lives on in Texas folklore as a beloved railroad Robinhood bandit betrayed in his darkest hours by his good boo pard, but such Wild West pulp fiction is betrayed by a haunted history of two Texas youths entangled in the post-Civil War Reconstruction chaos of poverty, desperation, and lawlessness. These ghosts of Denton remind us of a dark past when our outlaws became heroes.

It’s Halloween season, Denton ghost fans, and we’ve been sharing a few tales with our fiends at We Denton Do Itabout some of Denton’s most famous haunts! Many locals have thrilled to one of the variations of The Goatman’s Bridge tales that have frightened visitors for generations, but we’ve also got stories of Denton’s Ghostly Guardians who linger on to protect and serve our fair community (and a few link-backs here to our archives)! There are many more stories to share so contact our DENTON HAUNTS Facebook page if you’d like to schedule a nighttime group tour of the beautiful Denton Square!! Stay spooky, my friends.